


Sweet Carolin(a)

by Zambo



Series: Price Tag AU [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: AU where Wash died on Sidewinder, Fluff, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-07
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-08-20 03:36:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8234728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zambo/pseuds/Zambo
Summary: In another world, Washington's wounds caused him to bleed out.
In another world, Carolina turned to the only other survivors of Project Freelancer to rescue Epsilon. 
This is the aftermath.





	

Carolina stood at the edge of the cliff, watching the sunset. The Director was gone now. It was over. Aside from her, Project Freelancer was dead.

Behind her, the laughter and shouting of the Sim Troopers reminded her that they were just as important as her in the grand scheme of things. She wasn’t expecting them to be waiting for Epsilon and her outside the bunker and offering some so called “good company” to spend the night with.

“What’s up Carolina? You’re looking extra broody right now.” Only God knew how Tucker managed to sneak up behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him reach his hand out for her shoulder, but decided against it at the last moment.

Seeing him do that made her something in her chest burn.

“Unlike  _ some  _ people, I’m wearing all of my armor right now. You can’t tell what I look like.” 

“Chill out man. It’s called body language.” Tucker gave her a shit eating grin and elbowed her. “You know, you’re not that badass, right?”

That was it. Carolina was going to have to throw Tucker off the cliff. Surely Epsilon and the others would understand the reasoning for it. 

“Woah, woah, woah! You are badass! I’m just saying that you aren’t some kind of unreadable stone wall badass!” He pulled  back, holding his hands in the air. “‘Sides. You’re, like, kinda too much like Church for me to take you too seriously. And I uh, don’t mean the Church that’s here right now. I mean the first Church.”

Her father. Suddenly the part of her chest that burned before was burning again, but this time at a tenfold. She wanted to rip off her helmet and scream because  _ how dare _ he imply that she was anything like her father. Whatever was burning in her chest spread all over her, paralyzing her, making it hard to breath.

“Back when we were all in Blood Gulch, I don’t think Church cared about anything. Maybe he cared about Tex, but that’s because he loved her. I’m not really sure if he actually cared about her, or just pretended to. And…”  _ Alpha _ . Tucker meant the Alpha AI. Carolina lost herself in Tucker’s words.

“And that pissed me off. I figured that he was some kind of broken military equipment that was suppose to be keeping an eye on us. Who couldn’t do his fucking job right. But I think I get it now though. Those people at Freelancer; like the director dude, they took everything that made Church himself and then gave us whatever was left over. And now when I look back, I think Church did care about us. Not how normal people care about each other, but he cared about us in his own way.” Tucker avoided her stare now, his voice was barely above a whisper, “Sometimes I think he was my best friend.”

Attempting to distance herself from the rawness of the moment, Carolina stepped away. She knew that she should tell Tucker that it wasn’t his fault, comfort him somehow, but she was a standstill.

“That’s what happened to you, isn’t it?” Tucker was looking at her again with a new strength in his voice. “Freelancer took everything you were away and that’s why you ‘had’ to kill the Director.” Carolina ignored the finger quotes and sarcasm from him. 

“That’s not how I remember it happening.” Words fell out of her mouth, refusing to accept the easy out that was given. “I was obsessed with being number one. Stopped caring about my team.” Her mind drifted to autopsy reports, old and new. Could they all have prevented that if she was there?

“Meh, good enough. You’re still going to be a better Blue Team Leader then Church ever was.”

“What?” What? “I don’t understand.” Carolina didn’t understand what Tucker was saying. 

“Well, it turns out that when there’s two people on a team, democracy is a bad idea. Especially if  _ someone  _ votes on the opposite of whatever I vote just to annoy me. So you’re gonna be the new team leader.” 

“Why not have Epsilon be you team leader?”  _ After all, that’s what he used to be _ was left unmentioned.

“Dude. Team leaders aren’t allowed to ditch us so they can creepy-stalk Tex. Church broke the rule. You’re pretty much- Nah. You are the only choice for Blue Team.”

There was a small click as Carolina took off her helmet. “Tucker…” For the first time they looked each other in the eye, no helmets in between them. 

Tucker just laughed at Carolina. “Anyway, welcome to the Blue Team.” He winked at her. 

“By the way, you should probably work on changing the hair. Blue and red don’t mix, you know.” He clapped her on the shoulder before walking away and rejoining the others.

Carolina watched Tucker leave with a tiny smile on her face. “ _ The Sim Troopers are so stupid _ ,” 

“ _ I guess they’re my Sim Troopers now _ ,” Wiping her eyes, Carolina corrected herself. She slid her helmet back on. “ _ My stupid Sim Troopers _ .”

She walked away from the cliff’s edge, away from the sunset, and towards her new team.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by conversations with vanishedschism. (Thanks Shiloh for letting me ramble about this!) 
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! 'w'


End file.
